Any advice on preventing surface roots that will wreck that pretty lawn and sucker everywhere they are hit by a lawnmower. Maybe the landscaper purposely sabataged those trees in dread of picking up those pesky balls
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Liquidambar Advice Needed
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pantheraba
ArboristSite Operative
cnswift said:They are kind of pesky, aren't they! So far they're green and cute but I know it won't be long before they're painful on tender toes!
Here in GA, sweetgums are everywhere. When my daughter was little, maybe 5-6 years old, I would pay her 1 cent per sweetgum ball she picked up...they are tough on bare feet and I wanted a clear back yard. She got tired of it and quit for a few years so I just raked them.
She was twelve when she called me to the front yard to show me 2 buckets of SG balls....only 1200 of them! After I paid her the $12, I cancelled the bounty on SG balls!!!
Good luck with your tree...if it survives there is a potential for it to get BIG...they get humongous here.
What a cute story, and a good example of an aspiring entrapreneur! They do get huge here too, and I'll probably have to give one up in the rear yard after many years. I've seen neighbors keep them small with pruning, so perhaps I keep everyone together for a long time.
I have a follow up to everyone's advice, as well as a question or two. I dug up the sod around the base of all four trees. My fingers are so tender I can barely type! I easily found the flair on two of the trees, one maybe and the largest of the trees not at all. On the latter trees, I dug down to where roots were starting and called it good. I replaced the area with mulch. The trees really were planted at the right depth, but the sod had grown up around the flair so I can see why this was not healthy for the trees.
I loosened the ties on the smaller trees. The large one didn't need loosening. On several of the areas the ties were starting to embed in the bark after only 7 months, which to me was a testament on how quickly they are growing. They are not ready to lose their supports just yet, one nearly fell over when I loosened up the ties. (scary!) I also cut part of one of the supports off since it was rubbing on a new branch and causing a deformity.
I made an appointment with the owner of my landscape company to consult on the trees. There is no odor from the wells, so I wasn't overly concerned with the anaerobic soil suggested previously. We decided to not add further aeration to the roots. We did however turn off the deep root watering system since they're linked to the beds which get watered several times a week. I'll now use the tube to run a hose down every 7-10 days for deep watering.
Here's the bad news from my landscaper. I can't turn down the grass watering. In fact I'm already killing my grass, and need to turn it UP immediately. We're now into the hottest part of the summer and it needs to be irrigated daily. I'm hoping that since we've blocked the lateral roots and are only watering deeply, that the grass watering won't overwater the trees since potentially their roots won't feel the effect. It was explained to me that the water from the grass only needs to penetrate the soil enough to water the lawn, and so we'll do two short waterings set 2 hours apart so that it can soak in without runoff, and then resoak the top layers only. I failed to mention that we also had an extensive drain system installed along with the irrigation, so it should carry excess water away to the gutters. I'm feeling like I'm between a rock and hard place with the watering. I don't want to sacrifice the lawn nor the trees.
I took some photos of what I believe is the flair, the indention from the ties and the mulched hole in case anyone cares to check them out. If so, let me know. Sorry for the storybook here, I do feel passionate about my trees and hope I'm doing the best possible for them under the circumstances.
I invite your thoughts and/or constructive criticism. Thank you, C.
I loosened the ties on the smaller trees. The large one didn't need loosening. On several of the areas the ties were starting to embed in the bark after only 7 months, which to me was a testament on how quickly they are growing. They are not ready to lose their supports just yet, one nearly fell over when I loosened up the ties. (scary!) I also cut part of one of the supports off since it was rubbing on a new branch and causing a deformity.
I made an appointment with the owner of my landscape company to consult on the trees. There is no odor from the wells, so I wasn't overly concerned with the anaerobic soil suggested previously. We decided to not add further aeration to the roots. We did however turn off the deep root watering system since they're linked to the beds which get watered several times a week. I'll now use the tube to run a hose down every 7-10 days for deep watering.
Here's the bad news from my landscaper. I can't turn down the grass watering. In fact I'm already killing my grass, and need to turn it UP immediately. We're now into the hottest part of the summer and it needs to be irrigated daily. I'm hoping that since we've blocked the lateral roots and are only watering deeply, that the grass watering won't overwater the trees since potentially their roots won't feel the effect. It was explained to me that the water from the grass only needs to penetrate the soil enough to water the lawn, and so we'll do two short waterings set 2 hours apart so that it can soak in without runoff, and then resoak the top layers only. I failed to mention that we also had an extensive drain system installed along with the irrigation, so it should carry excess water away to the gutters. I'm feeling like I'm between a rock and hard place with the watering. I don't want to sacrifice the lawn nor the trees.
I took some photos of what I believe is the flair, the indention from the ties and the mulched hole in case anyone cares to check them out. If so, let me know. Sorry for the storybook here, I do feel passionate about my trees and hope I'm doing the best possible for them under the circumstances.
I invite your thoughts and/or constructive criticism. Thank you, C.
richie rich
New Member
Sure we'dliketo see the pictures,can you post thenmhere?cnswift said:
JamesTX
ArboristSite Operative
I'm not an arborist, but I'd like to hear what one has to say about the tree that fell over when you untied the support. I'm surprised that it's growing so fast that the trunk is growing around the support tie, but the roots aren't growing fast enough to support the tree unaided.
It didn't fall over, it just felt really wobbly and definitely needed aid. I probably exhaggerated a bit.
Thanks for the reply! This is a great forum to ask questions of experts. I'm just starting out and can use all the help I can get.
Thanks for the reply! This is a great forum to ask questions of experts. I'm just starting out and can use all the help I can get.
Liquidamber
Hi
I have been reading your posts with much interest. Now as for Sweet Gums they are the enemy here in Springfield, Mo. In the late 50's to early 60's we lost our elm trees to Dutch Elm disease and they thought, at the time, Sweet Gum would be the answer. Well they get really big have roots running everywhere like under driveways etc. And then there are the BALLS I mean probably 30 large bags or more every year per tree! they sit along the gutter guards and refuse to come down, stop up the valley's on roof all the way to the peak. We had ours cut down last year, two of them, and the stumps ground out and still have sweetgum sprouts everywhere. I don't miss them at all. Cutting them down is the norm in this town. And about the yellow leaves falling I wouldn't worry we had that on the large ones and I never knew why but every spring after they got their leaves they would drop a quite few.
I don't know what a flare is?
Novice2
Hi
I have been reading your posts with much interest. Now as for Sweet Gums they are the enemy here in Springfield, Mo. In the late 50's to early 60's we lost our elm trees to Dutch Elm disease and they thought, at the time, Sweet Gum would be the answer. Well they get really big have roots running everywhere like under driveways etc. And then there are the BALLS I mean probably 30 large bags or more every year per tree! they sit along the gutter guards and refuse to come down, stop up the valley's on roof all the way to the peak. We had ours cut down last year, two of them, and the stumps ground out and still have sweetgum sprouts everywhere. I don't miss them at all. Cutting them down is the norm in this town. And about the yellow leaves falling I wouldn't worry we had that on the large ones and I never knew why but every spring after they got their leaves they would drop a quite few.
I don't know what a flare is?
Novice2
Isn't that funny how one region hates them, and another loves them? We actually had a large elm tree and cut it down in lieu of the sweet gum! The elm had been mistreated from years of neglect and it too had destructive roots. From what I've heard, deep watering is the key and without that the roots come to the surface for water. That's why I'm trying to do everything possible to encourage deep roots on these. The elm was also kind of an ugly tree, which dropped green and yellow dusty 'things' that stained the concrete and got all over everyone's cars. At least the seed balls are easy to see and pick up. You also can't beat the fall colors which we don't see a lot of in southern california. thanks for writing!
PS: Where are my arborists to tell me if I'm now on the right track? :angel:
PS: Where are my arborists to tell me if I'm now on the right track? :angel:
Gum Balls
Fair enough. If we all liked the same trees it wouldn't be a very pretty world.
Now for the gum balls. Did you know you can have them sprayed and they won't have balls? It doesn't always work and was expensive. $65. per tree but worth it if it works. Has to be done every year in Spring and a very short window of time to do it. Plus wind and rain a factor.
Novice2
Fair enough. If we all liked the same trees it wouldn't be a very pretty world.
Now for the gum balls. Did you know you can have them sprayed and they won't have balls? It doesn't always work and was expensive. $65. per tree but worth it if it works. Has to be done every year in Spring and a very short window of time to do it. Plus wind and rain a factor.
Novice2
Yay! I am so happy to have done some good for my trees. I can rest a little easier now, and hopefully I'll see some improvement soon. Thankyou again all!
Huggy, that's funny that he wanted to bite your camera. I love labs.
Novice, thanks for the tip on the gumball spray. If it becomes an issue I'll definitely look into it!
You guys are the best! Thanks so very much!
Huggy, that's funny that he wanted to bite your camera. I love labs.
Novice, thanks for the tip on the gumball spray. If it becomes an issue I'll definitely look into it!
You guys are the best! Thanks so very much!
kgbtechie
ArboristSite Lurker
I have read through the thread and noticed something I have been doing research on. Lawn care-now granted I am on Long Island off the New York coast, lawn is still lawn. I did my trek through everything ever written about lawn care as I was sick and tired of having a bumper crop of weeds and clover etc. What I found is exactly the opposite of what you mentioned in the thread. The volumnes of information I read all basically said the same thing. Grass needs deep roots-they should be encouraged to grow deep roots as weed roots are surface roots. If you get the grass down where it belongs, then the weeds are not a problem. They said to water infrequently, but for long periods of time, twice in the same day in order to absorb the water. I believe it was 4 days average depending where you live. The grass will eventually overtake the weeds that cannot get to the water. I have mentioned this as the articles also said that watering a little bit every day will encourage weeds, not grass to grow. Are you sure you heard the professionals correctly when they said a little bit every day? If you need the information, I will see if I can find it. Happy gardening.
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